" He nevertheless discerns a problem for adMart: Hong Kong's size - "Any online e-commerce focusing only on a population like Hong Kong is going to be in for a real disappointment.

CNN: Groceries to go

In 1997 he started Boom.com, Asia's first e-broker, in Hong Kong.

ECONOMIST: Online trading in Asia

While the majority of his fortune comes from Xiaomi, he also owns minority stakes in a number of Chinese online enterprises, including Hong Kong-listed anti-virus firm Kingsoft, private e-commerce companies Vancl and Lakala, mobile browser provider UC Web, and YY, which hit the Nasdaq exchange last Wednesday.

FORBES: Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun Sees Hundred-fold Return After YY IPO

One of the group's 25 business units, Alibaba.com, an e-commerce platform for small businesses, went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007, before Mr. Ma took it private again last year. (The rest of the group's units, including Taobao, Tmall and Alipay, have never gone public.) The financial crisis hurt Alibaba.com, he says, and it needed major changes.

WSJ: Weekend Confidential: Jack Ma of Alibaba

In Hong Kong, skepticism of companies that say they are remaking themselves as e-commerce plays abounds.

CNN: Change Is in the Air

"The International Finance Center is Hong Kong's premier IT address, " says Lane Leskela, research director for e-commerce intelligence services at Gartner Group (Asia Pacific).

CNN: Connect The Dots

His son William E. (Chip) Connor II would later take over the firm and move its headquarters to Hong Kong in 1985.

FORBES: China's Untapped Potential Far Outweighs Its Competitors